Favorite Friday... School's Finally Done and the Zoo

*Caution - This post may contain material that is not appropriate for those who have not had some version of 'The Birds & the Bees'  talk already. ;-)

We are done!! We are finally finished! I can hardly believe we made it a year together. Homeschooling has been such a challenge for me. I don't mean that in a negative way. Rather, I feel like I was really stretched out of my comfort zone and it was the best thing I could have done for myself. I feel so blessed to have spent so much time with my kids this year. And let me say what how grateful I am to see that both E and Sis are happy and have accomplished so much. We did our "end-of-year" testing this week and both kids did amazingly well. (To be honest, I was more than a little worried that I had failed to teach them enough or that they had not retained anything.) The two things I was most worried about ended up being just fine. Esther came through her L. Arts with a +95% average. Et got in the high 80's in science and 90's in Math. Why do I worry so much?!? Worrying is such a monumental waste of time and energy.

This has been such a great week. It has still had its share of bumps and stresses, but they are so small in comparison to all the goodness we've had. Our goals for the summer are simple. We want to have fun exploring and imagining and learn something in the process.  Moving on...

*Being Friday, today was zoo day. It was hot, hitting 90 by noon. It was crowded. It seems every school, daycare and youth group schedules their zoo trip for the last three weeks in May. No worries. It was still great. The animals don't to anything terribly exciting in this kind of heat, but there is still so much to see and learn. So the one exception to the animals not doing anything was at the Polar Bear Watch. LOL! 

All spring they have kept Magnet, the male, and Anoki, the female separated. We have spent so many Fridays watching Magnet moan and cry and pace and pace until he is frothing at the mouth and the ground is worn away because he could see and smell Anoki but he could not get to her. (She was on the other side of the enclosure, separated by a fence while she healed from a leg wound.) Today when we got there we discovered they had drained the tank, visible to the public, on one side and put the two back together. And finally Magnet got his girl. It was too funny. We were there for AWHILE and they looked pretty much the same the whole time. Sis had so many questions. I had to try so hard to keep a straight face. She was mortified. I wish I could have gotten a picture. E wasn't too interested in watching and the other kids around him were terrible. It was one of those times that I appreciated not having him hang around so many other 11-yr. old boys. We finally left because of the things they were saying and the language they were using. Anyway, it was interesting to say the least. 

I am certain the zoo keepers were thrilled with their behavior as they have been trying to breed Magnet with either of the females at the zoo. Magnet is the second most "eligible" bachelor in the country for his genes and Anoki the female is the most sought after female, so successful breeding with them would be amazing. (E tells me I have it backward, that Magnet is the top dog and Anoki is #2, but who knows. It really doesn't matter much.)

This was the highlight of E's day. Right off the trail near the elephant enclosure we spotted a Black Rat Snake. This just happens to be E's favorite snake in the reptiles area. It was nearly as long as E is tall and very nervous. All said, a great - albeit hot and crowded - day at the zoo.

The Window's of Heaven...

Today we were surprised with a great blessing. It was nothing we were looking for, but it was so welcome. Our neighbors (three single girls) are moving out this month. They have been unloading their apartment all week. Mostly they put stuff out in the alley and people come by and pick it up. (We live near MICA campus and therefore, many poor students.) Today they had a pile of stretcher bars and an easel sitting outside and I promptly called my sweetie to see if he was interested. When of course he was, I tracked down the girls and asked if everything was for the taking. Which, of course, it was. Score!! We hiked ten canvases worth of stretcher bars and a couple of stretched canvases up the back stairs. There were bags of goodies sitting out - which of course were all free too. I scored another yoga mat, hot pink towels for Sis, rubbermaid containers, dishes and bedding from IKEA, a 20" TV/DVD w/stand and more. The mom of one of the girls came out and asked if I was looking for any furniture and when I asked "like what?" she had me follow her inside. Apparently its cheaper for her to buy ALL new furniture in NY and leave everything behind because she wasn't taking anything with her. She gave us all the furniture that is pictured above plus another wardrobe, a huge bookcase, a lamp and the mattress for the bed. We already have the matching dresser for the one she gave us and the bookcase is the same type we bought at IKEA last year. Everything matches what we already have!! It couldn't have been more perfect if I had planned it myself. I don't know why God blesses us in the ways He does, but I am grateful for His goodness and His generosity.  Some of my favorite blessings are the ones I don't necessarily need, they are just a little (or a lot of) something that puts a smile on my face and lets me know God loves me and is aware of me and wants me to be happy. I couldn't ask for more than that.

Coming to UT

Hey, hey, hey! We are on the countdown to our UT trip. We arrive in SLC on the 30th of May, only 11 more days! Jon actually gets to come with us for a small part of the time. It's the first time we've flown as a family since Italy, almost two years ago. Its a shorter trip than before, so we don't have as much time to visit everyone individually, but we still want to see as many friends as possible. One of the things we're looking forward to the most, besides chillin' with the fam, is a BBQ we have planned. I FB'ed it already, but for those of you not on FB here are the details:  On the 31st, Sunday, we're going to be at my parents' house in Orem (478 East 400 North). All you need to do is bring something for yourself for the grill and something to share with everyone else. We are going to supply drinks and paper goods. My parents' yard is beautiful and there is much to do . Bring the fam. There are three treehouses and a trampoline to play on. Hope you can make it as we will not be in UT again until the holidays and we want very much to see you all. Spread the word!